Around 10:30pm (plus or minus an hour) in southeastern Stokes county on Saturday 12/11/04 there was what appeared to be a fantastic meteor (most likely a Geminid--they peaked the following Monday night). There were low clouds, a friend and I were walking in a field when we noticed a bright light to our right. We turned and the light seemed to punch through the clouds. It was stunningly bright--it lit up the surrounding woods like a slow, gigantic camera flash. Green tail with orange sparks trailing behind it. It seemed to come straight down (no visible arc), and seemed to disappear just before touching the ground. We could see the shadow of trees behind it, so we know the object made it into the adjacent valley, but it seemed to go dark before it would have made impact. I believe it was a meteor, but it was the closest encounter I've ever had with one! I expect the object was somewhere between .25 to .75 miles away.